PARTI Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Azmin Ali is an intriguing character, to say the least. Here is a man who rose from being a minister’s special officer to becoming a Member of Parliament (MP) and vice-president of an emerging opposition party. In Malaysian political culture, loyalty is often, though not always, rewarded. But Azmin’s loyalty [...]

Are the problems exaggerated? PARTI Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leaders maintain that all is generally well in the party, and that recent skirmishes are but “normal” for a party that has grown rapidly. It might be a hard message to sell to a sceptical public impatient to see Pakatan Rakyat (PR) deliver. For one, PR, which [...]

Portrait of Henry VIII (public domain, Wiki Commons) TO understand the origins of Malaysia’s sodomy laws, a short trip down British history is required. Henry VIII (1491-1547), the most handsome man in all of Christendom, tried for some years to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. A spectacular and violent [...]

IT has been nearly a week of campaigning here in Penanti, and the by-election still seems skimpy on issues. True, all the candidates have revealed their “manifestos”, but none of them seem to be too specific. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Dr Mansor Othman has been the most strategic in releasing his manifesto, charter and [...]

IT was a hot, humid morning in Penanti on nomination day, 23 May 2009. It could have been the heat, or the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s absence, that made proceedings a tad more subdued compared to the tri-elections of 7 April. Nevertheless, a 1,000-strong crowd turned up to support the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s candidate, Dr Mansor [...]

DURING the March 2008 general election, election campaign posters for Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) parliamentary candidate Nurul Izzah Anwar showed her smiling. Wreathed in a glowing aura, she seemed to be gazing into a bright Malaysian future. Now the parliamentarian for Lembah Pantai, she is still seen as a poster-child for Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s younger [...]